What Color Contacts Should I Get?

Color contact lenses are a fun way to change your appearance by enhancing or changing your eye color. The toughest part is choosing the best color.

A good way to start is to look in your closet. What color clothing do you think you look best in? Which colors do you wear most often? What colors fetch you the most compliments?

The answers to these questions will usually give you a good idea which contact lens colors will be the most attractive on your eyes.

Also, consider your skin tone and hair color. Just as certain eyeglass frame colors work with your skin and hair color and others don't, so it is with color contact lenses.

Try Them On!

Four Simple Ways To Try Different Eye Colors

Click on the photo for a closeup slideshow.

OK: Upload your photo to a try-on app. One example is Eye Color Studio, available for both Android and Apple devices.

Good: Use an online photo-editing program in your computer browser. One of the best and easiest-to-use is Fotor (it's also available as an app).

Better: Have a graphic designer friend retouch your photo in PhotoShop. (That's what we did in our slideshow here.)

Best: Visit your eye care practitioner and try on actual color lenses. There's nothing like seeing them in person and in real light to help you decide which color is best for you!  L.S.

Generally speaking:

If you have warm skin tones (yellow or gold undertones) and yellow-blond or golden brown hair color, contacts that often look best are those that include highlights of light brown, honey, hazel and green.

If you have cool skin tones (blue undertones) and strawberry blond, blue-black or salt-and-pepper hair color, similarly "cool" eye colors of ice blue, violet or plum may be most appealing.

When choosing color contact lenses, it's also very important to assess how natural the lenses look on your eyes. After all, you want the lenses to be essentially invisible to others for the most natural appearance.

Color contacts from different manufacturers are made in different sizes, and the colors are applied to the lenses in different patterns and densities.

Though some movement of the lenses during blinks is desired for a proper fit, if the lenses move too much, your eyes won't look natural. Also, if the colored portion of the lens does not superimpose perfectly over your iris, this too will create a less-than-natural appearance.

Opaque color contact lenses that completely change your eye color (unlike some color-enhancing lenses that simply deepen your natural eye color) have a clear zone in the center of the lens so no light is blocked from entering your eye through the pupil.

If this central clear zone is not roughly the same size as your pupil or is not perfectly centered over your pupil, the color contacts will not give you the natural look you want.

Making Your Final Color Contacts Choice

After having your eye doctor verify that the color lenses fit properly so they are safe and comfortable and also look natural, narrow your color choices to one or two colors you like the best.

Then try putting a trial lens of one color on one eye and a trial lens with another "finalist" color on your other eye.

Ask if you can leave the exam room to see how your eyes look in different lighting conditions in the eye doctor's office and/or optical store.

Covering one eye at a time while looking in a hand-held mirror in different lighting conditions can help you make the final color decision for your new look. Have fun! AAV

About the Author: Gary Heiting, OD, is senior editor of AllAboutVision.com. Dr. Heiting has more than 25 years of experience as an eye care provider, health educator and consultant to the eyewear industry. His special interests include contact lenses, nutrition and preventive vision care.